Tampa hotel owner expands into Mississippi, Kentucky

TAMPA -- National hotel owner Liberty Group has added three more locations to its portfolio. The Tampa-based group acquired a small chunk of an overall 26-hotel package Goldman Sachs purchased in 2007 for $300 million.

Liberty purchased three Fairfield Inn & Suites hotels in Mississippi and Kentucky. It includes the Fairfield Inn at 15151 Turkey Creek Drive in Gulfport, Miss.; the Fairfield Inn at 173 Thornhill Drive in Hattiesburg, Miss.; and the Fairfield Inn at 100 E. Jefferson St. in Louisville, Ky. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

The portfolio totals 236 rooms, and will be managed by Liberty's hospitality management division. The company plans “significant” capital improvements to the hotels, although details of those improvements were not released.

The acquisitions were made through a $75 million fund Liberty closed in 2014 and is designed to have a three-year investment period, according to a release. Over the past 16 months, Liberty has acquired or opened 10 hotels representing approximately $100 million in investments.

Liberty has started work on a second fund, although the company has not provided any details yet on the size and scope of that fund.

Since the company's founding in Ohio 35 years ago, these hotels bring the total acquisitions for Liberty up to 50.

Liberty Group, which moved to Tampa in 2003, is a developer, owner and management company for several hotel flags including Hilton, Intercontinental, Marriott and Starwood. Liberty's portfolio includes more than a dozen hotels, multifamily residential and commercial properties on the Gulf Coast, according to its website. That includes Aloft Tampa Downtown, Paradiso Luxury Condominiums in St. Petersburg, a Best Western Plus in Bradenton, and the Pearl Beach Inn Resort in Manasota Key.